Hey everyone, just wondering if any of you who subscribe to ESPN Insider would be willing to post the part of Peter Gammons recent 'youngsters to watch in spring training' article that was about Giants top prospect Tim Lincecum. If anyone's read it and doesn't want to post, would you mind relaying what some main points of it were? I'm real excited about Lincecum, and would not mind seeing him in the Giants rotation this year. I know he's young and shouldn't be rushed, but **** it. The thought of a future 1-2-3-4-5 of Cain, Lincecum, Zito, Lowry and Sanchez is just ridiculous. So much good home grown talent. Who knows if all those guys will be around byt the time Morris and the other old dudes are out of the picture, but I can hope.

MOST SIGNIFICANT YOUNG PITCHERS• Tim Lincecum and Jonathan Sanchez, San Francisco. With Barry Zito, Matt Cain, Matt Morris and Noah Lowry, the doors have been opened for a generation of young pitchers to get to AT&T Park. Lincecum was the 10th pick in last June's draft, but has sick stuff (58 strikeouts and 14 hits in 32 pro innings), even if watching him throw may hurt your shoulder. Sanchez was put in the bullpen after three starts last year, but also has big-time stuff. If Brian Wilson ends up the closer, Lincecum and Sanchez could end up as the guardians of the seventh and eighth innings.

I wouldn't mind seeing in Sanchez and Lincecum in the 8th and 9th at all. In fact, that would be pretty sweet, and we'd actually have a really good bullpen, something the Giants have lacked since the days of Nen. It's not a stretch to see Lincecum going Verlander on the league.

It'd be great to see the young guys in the pen. I can't even remember the lest time the giants had any good late relievers. Nen is like giants lore now, giving up his career just so the giants could make it the series that one year (fuking scott speizio).

yeah i dont mind youngsters in the pen. as long as they throw strikes! i'd rather have a young pen with electric stuff, than a vetran aging pen with hardly any gas in the tank. but thats just me.

thats one thing you got to give sabean a bit of credit for is the developement of pitching. sure the hitters arent there, yet, but once the roster turnover comes into full effect look for more developement in this catagory.

since sabean has been in charge he's been trying to build vetran teams around barry to win a title, drafting pitching (trade value), and using some of it at the deadline for team needs.

there has been a change in philosophy now, we are more balanced in our drafting so in the next few years look for there to be some good names coming through our system.

right now what can you say about guys like cain, sanchez, lincecum... i mean this is awesome, they could be the next braves pitching dynasty.

"Losing is inevitably close to winning," Guber said. "They're inches apart. Drama. If you have drama, you've got a ticket to sell." "They're not real fans," Lacob said. "They don't have season tickets."

ChronicallyInclined wrote:yeah i dont mind youngsters in the pen. as long as they throw strikes! i'd rather have a young pen with electric stuff, than a vetran aging pen with hardly any gas in the tank. but thats just me.

I didn't mind Mike Stanton last season out of them pen. That guy was great... but I can't stand the rest of our relievers. Brian Wilson, Armando Bennitez, even Jeremy Accardo wasn't great, to me. I hope we toss a couple of the young guns in the pen.

Benitez is the worst. Wilson can throw hard, and has a good mentality. He has potential. Same was true of Accardo. There was an interview I heard with Todd Greene last year (backup catcher) and he said Accardo had the best stuff on the staff. He was young, too, and didn't have much experience. He has lots of potential. He just needs more time, like a lot of youngsters. But of course far from a sure thing. The young guys who REALLY suck are Taschner and Munter. Each had a good little stretch a couple years ago, but have regressed horribly. I don't want to see either of those guys on the club.

Ortiz pitched real well today in the forst spring training game. 3 innings, three strikeouts, no one reached base. AND he hit a 3-run double. I'd say the performance today all but secured the 5th starter spot for Ortiz in Sabean's eyes, at least. I know the Giants want Sanchez to be a starter eventually, but I would much rather see him pitching in the bullpen for the Giants, as opposed to starting in the minors. Same goes for Lincecum. Then, if the Giants need a spot start, Lincecum could do it. I just want to see the kid pitching for the Giants as soon as possible, regardless of how bad of an idea it might be for his development.